Home at Last!

I have my table back. I have my peppermint mocha at my side, and Pandora in my ears. Outside, six inches of snow covers the car park and it's still falling. It's the softest, most beautiful snow I've ever seen. My desk is set up and my routine has been returned to me. The post-it notes taped to my notebook read, Just GET IT DONE and No BackTracking NO EXCUSES. I have been here for half an hour and have done five hundred words. We're here for eight and a half more hours. Life is incredibly good. 

I have resolved to NaNo-blast my third draft and just Get It Done before moving onto my present-tense version. Afterall, I cannot fix what hasn't been written yet, as tempting as it is to try! As I said, I want it done by mid-March so I can break for April Camp and get some space before coming back to it. 

I've settled (I think) on my April project, and have started making notes. It's very exciting! And I think it'll be a good story to have drafted for when I come back to 'Moon Path', lots of world-building and back-story etc. All things I know, but it'll be good to have them laid out on paper. And give some humanity to my baddies! Something they are both sorely missing as it stands. 

Visa and Writing Updates

And there we are! I have my visa and my passport is coming back to me within ten working days :D The sun is shining and I'm feeling excited about my writing again -- Life is good! 

I've done a bad thing, but a good thing for me -- I've restarted my story again. Well, sort of. I always knew I wanted to go back and redo the beginning and recently I've had a terrible craving for present tense, so I'm doing some experimenting with that; going back and re-reading the stuff I did almost a year ago now, right at the very beginning of the project. And I actually really like it. Definitely going to try and incorporate that into what I've got. I really didn't think I was going to need another rewrite, considering how happy I've been with what I've got so far, but the idea of making it even better as really got my blood going again! 

My goal is to have a completed draft done sometime in March, ready for when Camp comes along in April (!!!) This year is already going so fast! And the last year too... I can't believe I've been working on this story properly for a year! It sort of feels like I haven't got as far as I'd like to with it, then I remember that I handwrote a draft, did 40k of rewrites AND wrote two novels in NaNo... Perspective. Or something! But this year will be better. I know what I'm doing now, and all I need to do is do it. 

Thoughts for Camp... Well, I really would like to do the final book in this series (I, amongst others, really want to know what happens!) but I also want to write Kai and Tamsyn's story as a sort of parallel, and I also want to do a sort of prequel with Lysandis and Aurelia, and I also want to do something completely different although I have no idea what, but I love pantsing! I don't know... I suppose I'll see how much of break from this world I'll need once Book 1's done. 

Okay, so here's what I'm listening to today -- Page 47 from National Treasure 2 by Trevor Rabin. I might've already posted this, but I love it so much! It's such a gorgeous piece of music!

Updates 2015

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. I find the longer I leave it, the more I have to write about and the less time I have! So here I am, sucking it up, and updating.

Currently in Exeter, England, on what I hope is the last leg of our Visa Journey. The medical on the second was very encouraging and I have just found out the my Big Scary Interview is on the 30th. So I have nineteen days to stew and fret. But that's fine; it's nice to be here and see people and have a bit of a holiday. 

Writing is going slowly but well. It's been nightmarish trying to snatch moments here and there to get some words in and, of course, I'm stuck in the hideous Middle Part (it never gets easier!) but I'm persevering and am pretty pleased with what I have. 

Hard copies of NaNo 2014 have been distributed and received very positively so far! All the niggles are things I knew needed to be thought about (more on that later). It's interesting though -- I feel so much better about letting people read this year. I've completely stopped apologizing for my writing and people seem to be taking it much more seriously too. It's very encouraging. I think it's because I really am putting my all into this and it's finally feeling as though it's paying off. Or will sooner or later! It's not just a silly hobby anymore. 

Still terrifying though, waiting for feedback.

Speaking of which, I have a couple of pieces that people have sent me than need reading, so I think I'm going to get on that this afternoon. I'm excited though -- they're really good! It's always a thrill beta'ing a decently written story! 

Will catch up again soon.

Doubtful Drafts.

It's a very odd sensation, going from first-draft writing -- where quantity presides over quality -- back to third-draft writing, where the point of it is to do it right this time. And, I have to say, it's proven to be quite tricky.

I'm not going to lie -- I'm super pleased with what I had of my third-draft pre-NaNo, but realising that I have to go back to working like that to produce those words filled me with a certain kind of nervousness that I hadn't felt before. I was honestly starting to doubt that I could keep up with myself.

This nervousness, coupled wih taking two days off for the holidays, crippled me for what felt like ages (although was actually only most of a day). The words just wouldn't fall right and the physics of the story was falling to pieces in protest of it neglect (A butterknife piercing a hardwood table, that's all you need to know!) Everything felt trite and dull, and my sentences and PoV were boring as hell. It was unbearable and I was doomed.

Then I had a walk and a bath and, at ten pm, inspiration struck. It was the coveted bolt of lightening, and it struck me hard. So hard, in fact, that the momentum of that energy has carried me well through today. As it stands, I have done 2,000 today (the most of this draft that I've done since putting it down on October 31st) and it's coming as well as it did then.

I am so so inordinately relieved.

It really is delightful, going back to this kind of draft, where every word is carefully picked and placed for the perfect effect. It's really feeling like a composition than words on a page, as the first drafts did, and I can finally take pleasure in the craft of writing again.

That's what subsequent drafts are for, I think -- pleasure of writing. First drafts are for the pleasure of the story, but it's later ones that really let you stretch your wings. I love it.

Createspace and Contemplation.

Alright, there we go. The books are ordered! Had to submit a couple of times, frustratingly, due to formatting cock-up, but I'm glad I took the time to look through page-by-page because I would've kicked myself if they'd come back like that! 

But we got there, and there it is -- NaNoWriMo 2014 is officially finished. 

I can't believe it's only been an month and two-thirds, I feel like so much has happened in what amounts to 52 days! 

Today I had a read through of what I've got of Book One and went for a walk with my thoughts, trying to get back in the head-space ready for continuation, and I've started re-plotting again. I've got the same nervous-excitement in my stomach as though I'm starting from scratch. I feel like writing the sequels has given me good perspective on it, though? Baah I'm scared XD 

In other news we finally finally got our promised 'story' from J.K centering on Draco and... well... predictable, I think is the kindest word. I was interested to read that he was tight friends with Goyle and Theo Nott pre-Hogwarts, but Crabbe was a later addition to the clique. But, tbh, that was really that got my fanfiction wheels whirring. It was basically a re-cap of the seven books plus a perplexed admonishment directed at female Draco-fans. It left me pretty mad actually, and solidified my thoughts that I love the Potter-verse desperately purely because she left SO so much to the imagination, not because she's a good writer with interesting characterizations. It's pretty tragic, actually, how black and white she sees it all when the majority of her fans have brought colour to her creation. And you'd think, with all these years to think about it... I don't know. It's too predictable to be disappointing. 

I'm content with my head-canon Draco, I don't think anything official at this point will put a dent in that. 

The only thing left to do is tweak the ending. It's going to take twenty minutes, max. But I don't wanna. All I want to do is scroll mindlessly through tumblr and feel cross that the new Draco 'story' that J.K promised isn't up yet. It's going to be terrible and nothing we don't already know but I want it so bad!! And I don't want to finish my novel. I hate finishing things. Blergh.

Revision Update

I am currently on page 294 of 397, and it's going well. Not being able to justify the nice fluffy ending I had finished with on the fifteenth, I spent the 16th talking it through with a writing-buddy and came up with a thousand words of rip-your-heart-out-and-shove-it-down-your-throat angst which feels much more natural to end Dragons on. 

Reading through has, so far, been much less excruciating than I had expected it to be. The further in I get, though, the more nervous I become. I certainly understand why people advise letting the MS rest before tackling it. It's much more pleasant to read with fresh, reader's eyes than re-visit the words you wrote only a matter of days ago. Still, it's not as bad as I expected it to be. And I'm trying to keep reminding myself that I wrote two novels in a month and a half so what can I really expect? 

Ugh! I'm itching to continue the story, though, but I really need to get back to Book 1. I think I'm going to hand-sketch Book 4, just dabble with it casually whilst I'm writing 'Moon Path'. My concrete goal for 2015 is to start querying so I really need a finished manuscript ASAP. 

Today it is beautiful and snowing, and I've done all my xmas shopping (how is it only a week 'til xmas???) so I think I'll count this as a good day :) Hopefully I'll finish up revision tomorrow so I can order my Createspace copies. Waah! I'm so excited to see it in print!! 

Here's what I'm listening to today -- Fall Out Boy & Taylor Swift: My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark, Live. Supreme.